Reading list: Beneficial Ownership Transparency

With new members joining the OpenCorporates community and the wider open data community, we get many requests for suggested reading. So, we’ve created a very long reading list and divided it into themes. We’ll share this in the coming weeks bit by bit but this is also a call for contribution! Tell us what we’ve missed and what else should be on here.

What is beneficial ownership?

Modelling the UK Beneficial Ownership data: This post explains how OpenCorporates analysed and modelled data from UK’s Persons of Significant Control register, including learnings and challenges. [by Chris Taggart, OpenCorporates]

The business case for corporate transparency

The Business Case for Ending Anonymous Companies: Business has a critical role to play in driving for full transparency. The B Team Beneficial Ownership Working Group’s research report articulates the business case for Beneficial Ownership Transparency and, more broadly, a transparent environment for business. [by B Team]

B20 15 Business Use Cases for Beneficial Ownership data: Findings from a workshop with representatives from 30 businesses and organisations. The businesses involved included representatives of banking, construction, pharmaceutical, publishing, legal and professional services organisations. The use cases demonstrate that the business impetus for beneficial ownership transparency goes far beyond compliance, contributing to risk management, and even in some cases, competitive advantage. [2015]

Mystery on Baker Street: Big chunks of Baker Street are owned by a mysterious figure with close ties to a former Kazakh secret police chief accused of murder and money-laundering. [by Global Witness]

Undercover in New York: Global Witness goes undercover and approaches 13 New York law firms, deliberately posing as someone designed to raise red flags for money laundering. The results were shocking; all but one of the the lawyers had suggestions on how to move the funds. [by Global Witness]

Challenging privacy arguments

One of the common blockers to progressing policy on beneficial ownership transparency is resistance from businesses (as was the case in Germany) and other groups over the risks of “data misuse, kidnapping and blackmailing”. We believe data be made accessible to the public, and in an open data format. Here is some analysis on why these arguments are a smokescreen.